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Newspaper companies licensed to sell in foreign currency
MISA-Zimbabwe
January 22, 2009

Zimbabwe media organisations have been licensed to sell their newspapers and other products in both local and foreign currency.

With effect from 22 January 2009, a copy of The Herald was selling at US$1 or the equivalent in pound sterling, pula or rand. The Zimbabwe dollar price would be determined by the market rate of the day. On the same day, the weekly privately owned Financial Gazette also started selling its 22-28 January edition at US$2 a copy.

Zimpapers chief executive officer Justin Mutasa said 75% of the newspapers printed by the state-controlled group would be sold in foreign currency whilst the remaining 25% would be sold in local currency to selected Government departments and designated selling points that include Herald House in Harare.

MISA-Zimbabwe position

While this development will see publishing companies generating revenue in foreign currency which should mitigate against the high production costs arising from the shortage of newsprint and spare parts for printing presses which are bought in foreign currency, MISA-Zimbabwe's concern is whether the reading public will afford to buy newspapers in foreign currency given that the majority of workers are still being paid in Zimdollars.

In view of this conundrum, the majority of workers are most likely to use the little foreign currency that they can lay their hands on to buy basics as well as meet the educational needs of their children in an economy that is fast being dollarised across the socio-economic spectrum. MISA-Zimbabwe further notes that this development also comes on the backdrop of the licensing of mobile phone service providers to charge in foreign currency.

Given this scenario, the majority of the country's estimated 13 million people will be denied access to information which is a universally guaranteed right central to the exercise of freedom of expression and the citizens' right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through mediums of their choice without any hindrance. Suffice to say the majority will be kept in the dark on developments on the socio-economic and political front thus being denied the opportunity to make informed decisions on issues that affect their daily lives.

On the other hand, the licensing of media organisations to sell their newspapers and other products in foreign currency should result in them increasing their print-runs, circulation and readership which were being inhibited by the high production and transport costs in a foreign currency-scarce economy. It is therefore critical to ensure that the readers get value for money through quality products and ethical reportage that strives for objectivity, balance, fairness and the inclusion of a multiplicity of voices in news coverage.

In a functioning economy, the delivery of quality products notwithstanding the other economies of scale, should inevitably lead to increased demand and revenue allowing for newspaper companies to break even, retain and recruit skilled journalists that should be rewarded commensurately through salaries and perks denominated in the same currency.

MISA-Zimbabwe therefore reiterates that the long-term viability of the country's media industry can only be secured through fundamental medial law and economic policy reforms intrinsically linked to the resuscitation of the productive sector to retain and employ a skilled labour force that is adequately remunerated for them to have disposable incomes that allow them to afford basics and access to sources of information such as newspapers, radios, televisions, telephones, mobile phones and the Internet.

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